


And the 7th Thing I Hate The Most That You Do (You Make Me Love You)

by iknowpIaces



Category: High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (TV)
Genre: 6 + 1, F/M, Implied Jealousy, Mutual Pining, Not Actually Unrequited Crushes, Oblivious, Post 1x10, Rina - Freeform, angst too sort of, idk - Freeform, rina endgame, takes place next semester, um fluff i guess?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-02
Updated: 2020-03-02
Packaged: 2021-02-27 23:08:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,858
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22983799
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iknowpIaces/pseuds/iknowpIaces
Summary: It doesn’t help that he really does look good in his costume. God, she hates him.She hates him.She hates him.Then, he has the nerve to smile at her.And Gina hates how that smile alone sends her over the moon.
Relationships: Ricky Bowen/Gina Porter
Comments: 11
Kudos: 114





	And the 7th Thing I Hate The Most That You Do (You Make Me Love You)

**Author's Note:**

> So, this wasn't supposed to be more than 1k words...
> 
> Please excuse any grammatical errors!!

_**1.** _

Gina hates that look of relief he gets when he sees her first thing after winter break, as she passes by his locker that morning. She hates how his eyes follow her as she walks by, sparing him a small smile.

She would stop and say hi- it’s probably what she  _ should _ do. But she doesn’t. He’s currently huddled around Nini, Big Red, and Kourtney- it’d be weird to just walk up to them, right? It’s not like they don’t all get along; she loves Kourtney, Nini’s the sweetest, Big Red is funny, and Ricky is, well, he’s  _ Ricky.  _ It’s hard  _ not  _ to like him.

That makes ignoring his lingering gaze on her, a whole lot harder. Gina resists the urge to look back, though; she resists the urge to turn back around and approach them. If she does, she’ll only make things harder for herself.

Now that Gina’s mom has agreed to  _ at least  _ finish this school year at East High by staying with Ashlyn, she’s noticed this odd, fluttery feeling in her stomach any time she’s near Ricky. 

It doesn’t take Gina long to realize why that kept happening throughout opening night. It was kind of hard not to, especially when she felt said fluttery feeling collapse in her stomach at the sight of Ricky and Nini singing together up on that stage.

_ Talk about bad timing, on her part.  _

_ It’s whatever _ , Gina decides. Everyone knew it was inevitable before Ricky and Nini got back together; besides, it’s not like she has any reason to be upset, right? It’s not like her and Ricky were anything…

An  _ almost,  _ maybe. But like she said, it’s whatever. Gina can deal with it. It’s just a stupid crush. 

She can deal with it.

Although, it would be a  _ whole lot _ easier to deal with it if Gina couldn’t practically feel Ricky’s gaze burning into her, from behind. 

She hates it.

**_2._ **

Gina hates how Ricky texts her later on during third period.

**_you’re back?_ **

**_never left_ **

Gina replies.

Well, technically, she did leave for two days to go bring some of her stuff back to Ashlyn’s, but she didn’t feel the need to specify. 

**_why didn’t u tell me?_ **

Ricky messages back almost a second later. 

Gina hates how persistent he’s being. She’s  _ trying _ to focus on the equations on the board.

**_you seemed busy._ **

She texts back before silencing her phone. It’s true; Ricky and Nini seemed to be on cloud nine throughout winter break. Judging by the never-ending Instagram, Snapchat, and Twitter posts, they couldn’t get enough of each other.

Which was understandable, they probably had a lot of catching up to do.

It didn’t make Gina’s heart twinge any less, though. And that only made Gina feel even worse, because Ricky is her  _ friend.  _ She shouldn’t be upset when he’s clearly so happy. 

Now that she thinks about it, that’s probably the real reason she didn’t reach out to Ricky and why she asked Ashlyn and Red to keep the fact that she was staying quiet. Gina didn’t want to be around Ricky, not when she was feeling  _ things  _ for him.

_ Crap.  _

She didn’t want to feel this way. Gina wishes things could just go back to when she saw Ricky as nothing more than a friend. It only takes a second for it to hit her, that maybe she never did  _ just  _ see Ricky as a friend. 

The sudden impulse to check her phone overtakes her and before she knows it, she’s scrolling through his text messages again:

**_we’re friends, gina_ **

**_i wouldve made time for u_ **

**_u should eat lunch with us, today_ **

**_i mean if that’s cool w u_ **

No, Gina does not have to fight back a smile and  _ no  _ her heart most certainly does  _ not  _ jump at the thought of him wanting to hang out.

They’re  _ just _ friends.

Friends don’t feel  _ this  _ way about each other, especially when said friend has a girlfriend. 

Until she can figure out how to deal with these feelings, Gina decides it’s best for her to keep her distance. She can use the space to clear her head. 

So she texts back,

**_sorry, EJ said he was taking Ash and I to lunch already ://_ **

Ricky doesn’t take long to respond

**_:(_ **

God, she really does hate him.

**_3._ **

Gina hates how doesn’t seem to take the hint that she’s trying to avoid him. At the end of the week, Ms. Jenn calls them in after school to discuss their Spring musical.

He comes to sit next to her as soon as he walks in. 

“You’re hard to come across these days,” Ricky greets her with a teasing tone and a smile. “Feel like I haven’t seen you all week.”

Gina can’t help it, she smiles too.

“Been busying myself with dance classes after school,” it’s not a complete lie, still her dance classes are only on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Ricky doesn’t need to know that, though.

Ricky raises a brow, “Didn’t think you still took dance lessons- I mean, you’re probably the best dancer we have!”

She shrugs. “One can never stop improving,” before Gina can even register what she’s doing, she’s leaning towards him, elbowing his side, gently. “Besides, as great as you and Nini were during last semester’s musical, there’s no way in hell I’m letting you two steal the spotlight from me again.”

A small smirk plays on Ricky’s lips. “Oh, it’s like that?” he laughs. “And what makes you think I haven’t also been taking dance lessons over break? Who knows, I might even be better than you by now?”

“Aw,” Gina feigns a pout and once again, she’s not sure what possessed her to run her hands through Ricky’s hair, ruffling his hair. “It’s cute that you believe that.” 

As soon as it dawns on her what she just did, she immediately retracts her hand. Ricky, however, didn’t seem to notice. He remains like a lightbulb, beaming at her so brightly, Gina doesn’t think she can handle it.

By then, more of them start showing up. It doesn’t take long for Nini to walk in with Kourtney and head towards them. Nini pecks Ricky on his left cheek, before running her hands through his hair, and greeting her with nothing but smiles and enthusiasm. Once more, Gina feels a mixture of knots and guilt bubbling at the pit of her stomach. 

She falls quiet as she watches Nini and Kourtney excitedly talk about potential musicals they might be doing this semester. Gina’s gaze falls to the way Ricky has his arm around Nini; how Nini has hers around his neck, toying with the loose curls nearby.

_ Crap. _

_ This damn crush needs to go away, now. _

When Carlos walks in, holding hands with Seb, Gina jumps at the opportunity to get away. She’s quick to excuse herself from the trio before practically sprinting towards her two friends.

Gina does not think about the slight frown on Ricky’s face as she walked away. 

Nor does she dwell on how much she  _ hates  _ the fact that he seemed sad that she walked away.

**_4._ **

Gina absolutely hates that Ricky has just been voluntarily showing up at any lunch table she’s in, with Nini, Kourtney, and Big Red of course. He says it’s so Red and Ashlyn can sit together, which is fair. Still, that doesn’t explain why he just  _ has  _ to always take the seat next to hers.

It doesn’t excuse why he always offers her food from his lunch box. One time she accepted a granola bar and found that she really liked it. Next thing Gina knew, Ricky was bringing an extra granola bar from home just for her.

She hates that he does that. It just makes things a lot harder.

If anyone else thinks it’s odd that he does that, they don’t mention it. It makes Gina wonder if maybe she’s just looking too deeply into a simple act of kindness. Friends are considerate towards one another, too, right?

Then, the day comes when they’re the first two at the lunch table. Apparently, both of their teachers decided to let out class early today. It was inevitable, Gina knows that. Odds are, it was bound to happen that they’d be alone, again. That didn’t mean she had to like it, though.

Ricky was unusually quiet today, though. It makes Gina wonder if he can pick up on her nerves or if he can sense how stiff she is, sitting next to him. 

There are a bunch of empty seats available, given that it’s just the two of them right now, there really is no reason for him to always take a seat next to hers. 

She doesn’t mention it, though. Instead, Gina asks him what’s with his sour expression. 

He gives her a small smile and says that he got into an argument with Nini. And then he’s telling her about it and Gina wants to laugh at herself, because _holy hell_ _this is such a movie cliche!_

Here she is, hanging out with the boy she likes, listening to him talk about his relationship with his girlfriend. 

_ This a joke,  _ Gina decides.  _ Her life has to be a joke at this point.  _

If the divine truly do exist, she just knows they’re out there somewhere laughing at her. 

Apparently, Nini had kept it a secret that that fancy school she was interested in transferring offered her a spot for next year. Apparently, that school was pretty far away too.

Which,  _ wow,  _ she feels for them. It must be tough.

“This just  _ really  _ sucks,” Ricky sighs.

“I bet,” she responds.

“If she stays, she might be letting a perfectly  _ amazing  _ opportunity slip right through her fingers but if she goes, then it’s like I’m letting her slip through my fingers,” he leans back against the red chair. “I just don’t know what to do.”

And of course, because they’re  _ friends,  _ Gina’s going to offer him the best advice she has. “I know you said you two are having your petty ‘silent treatment’ thing going on, but I  _ think  _ you should be having this conversation with her, not with me.”

Ricky’s brows furrow as he turns to face her. “But I’m supposed to be mad at her for keeping this a secret from me?” he says in a  _ duh  _ tone.

“But you’re hurting,” Gina offers with a sad smile. She hates the sight of Ricky hurting. “Maybe talking will make things better, it’s definitely advice I would take if I was in your position.” 

Which, technically is a lie, considering she’s keeping her feelings for him a secret- then again, he doesn’t need to know that.

Ricky scoffs, he’s almost smiling though. “And you think talking is gonna fix it?”

Gina shrugs. “Have you two ever tried it?”

And Ricky opens his mouth to retort back, only for him to shut it immediately.

Gina can’t hold back a snort at that. “Yeah, didn’t think so, guitar boy. Relationships require communication, y’know? They can't always be sappy love songs and cheesy lines!”

He nudges her slightly, his lips curling upwards. “Hey, you’re supposed to be offering me comfort not mocking me!” it comes out whiny as he bats his lashes at her. Gina feels her heart clench at the sight.

She shoves him back to hide it, though. “You want comfort, go to Red! I’m just here to stop you from spamming my Instagram feed with another sappy love song,” she jokes.

Sure enough, that gets a full-blown smile out of him. “You know what, just for that I’m gonna write you a bunch of sappy songs and spam post them when you least expect it.”

Gina feels her face grow warm and again, she shoves him, gently. “I will block you before you even get the chance, Ricky Bowen!”

“I guess I’ll just have to go outside Ashlyn’s house and sing them for you, then,” he beams.

He’s just joking; teasing her like friends do, she knows that. Apparently, her heart doesn’t get the memo.

“Shut up,” Gina mutters, shoving him for the third time already. She really hates when he jokes like this. 

Ricky’s laughter dies down seconds later, as the cafeteria begins to slowly fill. 

Gina’s about to excuse herself to the line to get her lunch tray when she suddenly feels Ricky’s hand around her shoulders, pulling her in for a hug. She freezes immediately, feeling her eyes go wide as he rests his chin on her shoulder.

“Thank you for the laugh,” he says, quietly. “I needed that.”

Hesitantly, Gina brings her arms around his back, as well. “Yeah,” she clears her throat, silently hoping he can’t feel the way her heart is practically pounding against her chest. “No problem, what are friends for?”

Ricky pulls back, still offering the brightest of smiles. Once she’s free from his embrace, Gina dashes towards the lunch line, her head slightly spinning. 

If any greater power does exist, Gina knows for sure they're mocking her, now. It’s the only logical explanation at this point.

God, she hates Ricky and his stupid hugs.

**_5._ **

Gina hates how mopey Ricky’s been lately. Turns out her advice ended up splitting him and Nini up. When she found out, she felt like the worst person ever. She spent several days apologizing to him.

Ricky insisted that she had nothing to do with it, though. It was a mutual decision, apparently they realized that a relationship requires more communication rather than “sappy love songs”. His words. Still, that didn’t make Gina feel any less guilty- especially not when Ricky has been looking like a kicked puppy recently.

She’s given him space, though Ricky says he doesn’t blame her, Gina knows that deep down, at least part of him has to, right? Though she’s missed hanging around him these last few weeks, Jordan has been a nice present to have.

Jordan Pierce moved here not long ago, he’s a sophomore too, and a killer dancer! Gina literally loves everything about this dude; talented, funny, and a charming smile. Ms. Jenn asked her to catch him up the progress they’ve made so far with putting together Beauty and the Beast and they sort of just hit it off right away.

As much as she loves having Ricky around, it’s nice to have a friend of her own that she doesn’t share with Ricky. It makes it easier not to think about him when she’s hanging out with Jordan.

Gina catches Ricky looking their way a lot, recently- usually with a scowl. It makes her heart drop at the thought of him resenting her for the advice she offered him last time. Not that she’d blame him, but that doesn’t mean it wouldn’t hurt any less.

“Your friend’s looking at us, again,” Jordan points out one day during rehearsal. 

Sure enough, when Gina turns, she meets Ricky’s brown eyes, that immediately shift away once she does. She sighs.  _ Yup, it does seem like he’s upset with her.  _

“He’s going through a hard time,” Gina spares him one last look before returning her attention to Jordan. They’re currently taking a break from choreographing some of the musical numbers for Beauty and the Beast. 

Jordan glances at Ricky as he nods. “Bad breakup, I presume?” 

Gina glances up at him, not feeling right to talk about Ricky’s problems with someone he doesn’t really know. 

“Don’t worry, I know the look of a heartbroken boy when I see one,” Jordan says, chuckling lightly. 

Gina doesn’t respond because, well, she doesn’t know how to. Instead, she reaches for her water bottle, taking a large swig. 

Jordan continues, though. “So, if you don’t mind me asking, why’d you dump him?”

The next thing Gina knows, she’s choking and turns to avoid spluttering water all over Jordan. She feels Jordan pat her back as she breaks into a coughing fit. Several heads have turned their way, including Ricky- whose expression is unreadable. That’s the least of her worries right now, though. 

“I’m sorry,  _ what?”  _ Gina hushingly yells once she’s composed herself. 

“You and the guy playing Gaston used to date, right? That’s why he keeps scowling slash pouting in our direction?” Jordan says, as if it’s the most obvious thing in the world.

This time, Gina has no water in her mouth, yet she still feels the urge to spit because  _ what?  _

She shakes her head, perhaps too quickly. “Ricky and I are not- his ex is Nini, Kourt’s understudy for Belle?”

Jordan appears surprised to receive that information. “Really?” he says, a hint of a smile playing on his lips as he spares a look in Ricky’s direction. “Could’ve fooled me.”

**_6._ **

Gina really does hate how good Ricky looks in his Gaston get up. Especially because she absolutely  _ hates  _ Gaston as a character. The only thing that guy had going for him was that catchy song of his.

It’s opening night for Beauty and the Beast. Nini’s gushing at Kourtney, telling her how stunning she looks; EJ’s flirting with himself in the mirror, Carlos and Seb are gushing over how cute the other looks, and Gina, of course, got assigned to help Ricky with his costume because Kourtney is still getting her hair done. 

She’s helping him put on that extremely long, black wig when he finally breaks the silence. Ricky clears his throat. “So, you and Jordan?”

Gina frowns in response, before realizing she’s standing behind him and can’t see her puzzlement. “Me and Jordan?” she questions.

She’s brushing the flyaway hairs from the wig when he responds. “H-How’s it going between you two, I mean?” 

Still puzzled, Gina says, “We’re okay..?” sounding uncertain. 

She wonders if she’s the only one who feels the sudden awkward atmosphere.

“I mean, it’s just we haven’t really been hanging out these last few weeks and I know it’s because you and that kid-”

“Jordan,” Gina corrects, snorting a bit. “He’s one year younger than you Ricky, c’mon.” She hopes this distracts him from the way this conversation seems to be heading. Gina really does not want to discuss the fact that she’s been keeping her distance from him because she still feels responsible for his break up with Nini- not tonight, at least.

Ricky clears his throat again. “Right, Jordan.”

Silence, again. 

She finishes applying the pins onto his wig before walking around to face him. “There we go!” she tries a smile. Ricky easily returns the gesture.

Then, Gina’s moving to push down some stray hairs from the wig, pushing them behind his ear.

Ricky’s eyes go wide as she closes in, inhaling deeply. 

“Sorry,” Gina mutters an apology as she takes a step back. “Dumb ol’ wig refuses to stay still.”

“S’Okay,” Ricky responds almost instantly. 

Gina can’t tell if her eyes are playing tricks on her, but she swears she sees a light shade of pink taint his pale cheeks. No, she does  _ not  _ dwell on how adorable the sight is because they’re  _ friends.  _

Conversation doesn’t come after that, instead they gaze into each other. Gina sighs internally as she feels her heartbeat begins to pick up. 

_ Damnit. _

It seems like even the distance she had tried to keep between them didn’t help make things better for her at all. Her damn heart still beats for Ricky Bowen and she hates him so much for it.

It doesn’t help that he really does look good in his costume.  _ God, she hates him. _

_ She hates him. _

_ She hates him. _

Then, he has the nerve to smile at her. 

And Gina hates how that smile alone sends her over the moon.

_**7.** _

The entire cast and crew take their final bow. Every Friday and Saturday night for a whole month they came, put on an amazing show, and now they’ve done so for the last time, this semester. 

Cheers and tears of joy fill the room; hugs and congratulations are spread; and to top it all off, Ricky decides to surprise her with a box of cupcakes.

She’s just about done collecting her stuff when she looks up and through the mirror, meets him warm, brown eyes. 

“This too much?” despite his smile, he seems unsure.

Gina turns, leaning against the dresser. “Not sure what occasion is for, but a smart girl never turns down cupcakes,” she wiggles her fingers at the box, signaling for him to hand them over.

Ricky does, laughing a bit as he watches Gina eagerly reaching for one. “You make these?” she asks after taking the first bite. These are really good.

He ducks his head down. “Uh, yeah,” he says, pressing his lips together as if to restrain a smile. “Youtube helped, actually,” he adds, looking up to catch her eye.

The moment he does, it’s inevitable; they’re both overtaken by a surge of laughter. 

Gina wipes some frosting off the corner of her mouth, not even trying to bite back her smile at this point. “I’ve heard it does,” she tells him. 

Ricky’s eyes dance along her face for a moment, before he speaks up again. “As for the occasion, I was thinking since you practically helped put this entire production together, I could thank you with some cupcakes and maybe, I don’t know, treat you to some pizza or something,” he looks down.

“Oh,” Gina’s surprised by that, she quickly tries to hide it by deflecting. “Thanks, but I mean Carlos, Ms. Jenn, and the whole cast and crew contributed, as well.”

“True, but they didn’t help me pull of Gaston, like you did,” he says.

Gina hums in attempts to keep her smile from widening too much. “Well, in that case, it be pretty dumb of me not to accept free pizza-  _ or something.” _

Ricky lets out a sigh, his shoulders loosening up a bit. “Great! Uh- wait,” his expression drops suddenly. “Would that be appropriate? I mean, would Jordan mind if we-”

“Jordan?” Gina feels her brows scrunch.

He averts his eyes, appearing nervous. “Uh yeah, y’know since you two are dating…” Ricky trails off.

Gina’s grateful she’s already finished eating her cupcake, because she knows for a fact she would’ve started choking on it had she not. “Dating?” she can’t hold back the roar of laughter that overpowers her.  _ Is he serious? _

“Yeah, aren’t you two-?”

Gina brings her hand over her mouth to stop herself. “No,” she says, unable to hide her amusement. “He’s sorta like my best friend.”

“Oh!” Ricky appears sheepish, still a tiny smile creeps up on his face. “That’s- uh, great.”

“Great?” Gina repeats, feeling the flutters return in her stomach. 

Ricky takes the box of cupcakes in one hand, holding his other one out to Gina. She eyes it before looking up to meet Ricky’s hopeful glint and pink tainted cheeks. “Yeah,” he says, voice pitched slightly. “Great.”

She takes his hand, because how can she not, and everything clicks.

He leads her out and Gina feels warmth spread across her face the entire way out. Ricky spares her a quick glance, his smile so bright it’s almost too much. 

Man, does she love that smile.   
  
  
.


End file.
